


Straight to the Slaughter

by stellarose_pictureshow



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Frankxgerard - Freeform, Frerard, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 11:09:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27470029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarose_pictureshow/pseuds/stellarose_pictureshow
Summary: Gerard is shy, timid, and just wants to survive high school. Frank picks fights and kills people in his spare time. Under unexpected circumstances, the two meet.
Relationships: Frank Iero & Gerard Way, Frank Iero/Gerard Way, Lindsey Ballato/Gerard Way
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

"Gerard, does this dress look okay?"

"It looks fine," Gerard said, not even bothering to turn his tired gaze from the overhead TV, which was tuned to a local news channel he'd never heard of. Daylight shone through inconveniently placed windows on the ceiling, creating an annoying golden glare directly in the middle of the television screen. 

If Gerard had cared about what his girlfriend had tried on, even in the slightest, he definitely would have at the very least glanced over at her. But in all truthfulness, he did not care. He couldn't even pretend to care anymore. In fact, he couldn't wait until the mall closed. 

"You didn't even look," Lindsey protested, sounding slightly disappointed, but disappeared back into one of the dressing rooms anyhow. 

"We've been in here for over an hour," he called after her, but was met with silence. He sunk into one of the many blue and white striped armchairs that lined up against a beige wall, parallel to the row of white, boring doors that led to white, boring dressing rooms. "Nobody else is even here anymore."

Gerard groaned and turned back to the TV. In less than a second, he was staring at a mugshot of someone he most certainly knew. 

Two news reporters sat behind a desk. Lines of text appeared on the bottom of the screen, and Gerard strained to read them:

HIGHSCHOOLER FRANK IERO JAILED FOR ROBBERY

Surprisingly, this was not the first time Gerard had seen one of Frank's mugshots. Frank had been arrested more times than a person could count on one hand. 

Behind him, Lindsey pushed open the dressing room door. She too stared up at the TV screen. 

"God, I've never liked that Frank kid. He's in trouble again? What a surprise."

Gerard tore his gaze from the television and stood to acknowledge his girlfriend. "Why don't you like him?" 

Lindsey rolled her eyes at Gerard's question as if it were stupid. Perhaps it was a stupid question. 

"Well, this is like the fourth time I've seen him get sent to jail. And he's mean, especially at school. Don't you see how some people are afraid to even pass him? If you were like him, Gerard, I think I'd just about die."

Gerard glanced back up at Frank's mugshot, finding anything but comfort in the familiarity of Frank's tousled dark hair and tired green eyes. He didn't have the "pleasure" of knowing Frank personally, but despite the overall scary demeanor of the other boy, Gerard always found himself marveling at Frank's fearlessness when it came to doing what he wanted.

Every student at the high school knew exactly who Frank Iero was, and a lot of students actually admired him somewhat, but it was mostly out of fear, considering anyone who looked at him the wrong way would instantly regret it. Only God knew why he hadn't been expelled yet.

Over the next week, Frank appeared in the news plenty of times. Gerard couldn't understand why it was being made into such a big deal, though. It wasn't as if he'd killed somebody. 

Gerard managed to occupy himself with other things over time, such as his girlfriend, and Frank Iero didn't cross Gerard's mind again until he appeared in their English class almost two weeks after his arrest. 

Gerard didn't dare to approach him or ask any questions, due to the horrible death he'd most likely die if he did, but his friend Ray Toro was a different story.

Ray and Gerard sat next to each other in class. From what Gerard could gather over the past few months they had spent sitting together, Ray was basically a toned down version of Frank. He hated people and hated the law, but also preferred to keep those qualities about him as private as possible.

Ray, being Ray, approached Frank immediately after noticing he'd entered the classroom. Gerard couldn't hear what Ray said, but whatever it was, it somehow didn't get his head torn off. 

"They let me out early for good behavior, you know?" Gerard heard Frank say, and his worry for Ray's well-being vanished. 

Over the span of five minutes, dozens of kids began pelting Frank with questions, and Ray took that as his cue to rejoin Gerard in the back. They sat in silence for a couple of seconds. 

"It takes real balls to do the shit he does," said Ray, looking at Frank admirably. "Like, Jesus Christ."

It was then that the teacher, Miss Jackson, arrived, scoffing once she saw Frank. She was one of the few who did not fear him. In fact, she might have even despised him. Perhaps because she saw him as he really was: not a threat, but simply a child who caused all sorts of trouble. But for whatever reason she disliked him, she treated Frank terribly. 

"Is there a problem, miss?" Frank piped up, noting the way the teacher had looked at him. 

Miss Jackson rolled her eyes, not even able to contain her hate towards Frank. "Of course there is," she sighed. "You're out of jail."

Frank snorted and leaned back. "Damn shame, isn't it?"

"I'll say," the teacher mumbled before beginning the lesson.

As Miss Jackson droned on and on, Gerard found it harder to pay attention. When he had officially lost touch with what she was saying, he glanced over at Ray. Ray seemed to be doodling in the corner of his notebook. 

"Hey," Gerard whispered. "Ray."

Ray glanced up from his sketches, looking incredibly bored. He made a gun motion with his fingers and pretended to shoot himself in the head. 

"I would spend the rest of eternity in hell than keep taking this class," Ray whispered, earning a round of giggles from Gerard. 

"Me t-"

"Any particular reason why I hear talking?" Neither of the boys had heard anyone coming, so it took them by surprise when they looked up to see Miss Jackson towering over them. 

"Because you have ears..?" Ray suggested, and the whole class erupted into laughter.

"That's it," she snarled. "Detent-"

"Well, he's not wrong," mumbled Gerard. 

"What was that?" she said as the class fell silent, turning on her heel to face the other boy. 

Gerard hadn't expected her to hear him, and he felt his face burn. "He isn't wrong," he said quietly. "Unless you don't have ears? I mean, I don't think telling the truth deserves a detention, that's all."

"What about talking back to a teacher? Does that deserve a detention, Mr. Way?" 

Gerard's face grew even redder and he stared at the ground, determined not to speak anymore. 

"Miss Jackson!" Brendon, the richest and snobbiest kid Gerard had ever met, laughed and stood abruptly from his desk. "What if you paired him with Frank as punishment?" 

If someone was friends with Brendon, it was because of his parents' wealth. Gerard could swear on his life that no one in the whole school genuinely liked Brendon. The sweater vests he wore each day weren't too appealing, either. 

Only half of the class laughed. Frank seemed impressively unfazed by all of these insults, and only looked back at Gerard along with everyone else, waiting for a reaction. Although Brendon's comment was an obvious joke, the teacher was clearly considering it.

Things only got worse when Gerard asked, "Paired for what?", proving that he hadn't been paying attention in the slightest. 

"Alright, jailbird," she said to Frank after a while, "Gerard's your partner. And Gerard, if you were paying attention to the assignment at all, you'd know that you two have a week to write a nature themed poem."

"I must say, that is some punishment. I'm sure you've got the boy shaking," was all Frank said, rolling his eyes at the smirking teacher. The wrinkles in her forehead bunched up and she yelled at him to go outside. 

Despite Frank's sarcasm, Gerard literally was on the verge of shaking. He was almost positive that spending more than a minute with Frank Iero would get him into some sort of trouble, and that was the last thing he wanted.

When the bell rang, Brendon went out of his was to pass Gerard's desk. He could barely contain his laughter as he leaned over and whispered, "Good luck, fatty."

"You're obviously not fat," Lindsey said after Gerard told her what had happened with Brendon.

"I wanna die," Gerard said, resting his head on the cold, wooden lunch table.

"Get your head off the table, there's probably a fuck ton of germs on there."

Gerard ignored her, closing his eyes. "I wanna go home, Lindsey," he mumbled.

"Then go home."

"I can't. There's like three hours of school left, in case you've forgotten."

Lindsey shrugged. "Ditch. Pretend like you're going somewhere for lunch, and ditch. We've got twenty minutes and my car. Let's do it."

Gerard finally lifted his head and smiled at his girlfriend. "Love you, Lindsey."

"You too, Gerard."


	2. Chapter 2

The house phone rang, and Mikey got up to answer it. Of course he did. He always did. There was rarely an occasion in which he didn't answer the house phone, because he wouldn't allow anyone else to. Gerard always teased him about it, but Mikey couldn't have cared less about his brother's teasing. No matter how much Gerard complained to Mrs. Way, nothing was done. She just didn't care much about the whole phone situation, unlike her two sons.

In her eyes, Mikey was just giving her one less job to do by always answering the phone, which was helpful, since she was balancing three real jobs already. However, Gerard didn't quite care that Mikey was being helpful. In fact, as far as he was concerned, Mikey was just a phone nazi. 

"Wait," said Gerard from the couch, "I think that might be for me."

For the last couple of years, things like this had been the main issue with Mikey always answering the house phone. It had especially been a problem when Gerard first met Lindsey.

The Way family hated to admit it, but they were poor. So poor that sometimes they weren't even able to afford regular groceries. Them being poor led to Mikey and Gerard having to live without cell phones, which was why Mikey's habit of hogging the phone was so annoying to Gerard. 

Mikey stepped in front of Gerard and picked the phone from its stand, ignoring Gerard's warning. 

"Hello?"

Gerard clenched and unclenched his fists annoyedly, almost positive that Lindsey, who had promised to call him earlier, was on the other end of the line. 

"Oh! Hi, mom," Mikey said into the phone, giving his brother a dirty look, but his funny facial expression soon faded into a serious one. "Yeah, that's fine, you know we can take care of ourselves for a night." Pause. "No, Gerard can't talk, he's sleeping. Yeah, he's had a long day. Bye, mom."

Mikey hung up with a heavy sigh and turned to Gerard. "Mom's gonna be caught at work for a couple more hours, and she might have to stay in a hotel or something. She's too far away to drive home that late."

"So, why're you annoyed? That just means we have the house to ourselves."

Gerard's brother rolled his eyes. "You're so inconsiderate, Gerard. Honestly. She's practically killing herself working like that. And she's doing it all for us. I really think her boss is working her too hard. Besides, we all know that she can hardly afford a hotel room."

"So? I can go without a couple meals. At lunch, I can just pick off Lindsey's tray. No big deal."

Mikey looked up at his older brother with red, watery eyes. "I used to look up to you, you know that?"

"That's not my problem," Gerard said dismissively, abruptly turning and heading to his room. 

"You used to be obsessed with being the hero," Mikey called after him, "What happened?"

Gerard stopped and slowly turned to face his brother. "What are you implying I do in this situation, then? What is there that I could possibly do to make this any better?"

"You want me to be honest?"

"Sure."

Mikey suddenly picked up a magazine from the coffee table and hurled it at Gerard. "Get a job! Help our mother out! God damn it, Gerard, you used to be smart!"

"What kind of job would I get?!" Gerard hissed, dodging the magazine. 

"I'm sure there's plenty of options!" Mikey shouted, picking up and throwing the next closest thing (a pillow) at Gerard's head. 

"And look at you!" Gerard yelled back, still dodging everything that was being thrown at him. "Destroying her house!"

"Fuck you!"

"If you're so taken with helping her, why don't you get a job?!" Gerard tried to get the words out as fast as he could, so Mikey wouldn't dismiss him and leave him in the wrong. 

"I can't!" Mikey exclaimed, collapsing on the couch with tears beginning to stream down his face and fog up his glasses. "I'm-" he hiccuped pathetically, "I'm not old enough yet."

The two sat in silence for a while, doing nothing but staring at the floor. When two heavy knocks sounded at the door, Mikey flinched involuntarily. 

Gerard rolled his eyes. "I'll get it."

At the door was Lindsey, and Gerard couldn't help but smile at his newfound distraction from the fight he and his brother had just had. 

"What's up?" he asked.

She frowned. "I heard yelling when I pulled in. Is something wrong?"

Gerard took a quick gander at his girlfriend's red car in his driveway. "I need your car."

"What? Gerard, I asked-"

"Could you stay with Mikey? I need your car."

"Depends on why you need it. Like, are you using it to see another girl, or-"

Gerard laughed. "Stop. Anyways, Mikey's been yelling at me to get a job, and I figured-"

"You figured what? It's dark out, no place is gonna be open for you to apply. Seriously, name one place that'll be open this late."

"Plenty of places, Linds. Are you telling me you've never heard of a place open past eight?"

"Yes, fine, but why not let me drive you?"

Gerard sighed heavily, silencing her. "I want you to, Lindsey, you know I do, but Mikey's really upset, and I don't think that leaving him alone is the best idea right now."

"Ah," said Lindsey, already stepping inside. "Poor guy. I'll take care of him, just don't go too far."

"Thanks, baby. I really appreciate it."

Lindsey leaned in to give him a quick kiss, leaving a lipstick mark on his jaw. She slipped a set of keys into his pocket, then she stepped inside. 

-

Gerard had gotten no luck so far. He'd already visited three fast food restaurants, but none of them were seeking employees. He knew Lindsey told him not to go very far, but he also knew that he couldn't just ignore the next town over. Perhaps there were a variety of jobs there. 

One of the first things Gerard saw after passing through a large road lined with trees, was a pet store. A couple of other shops surrounded it, but with their lights off and signs down, Gerard figured they were closed. He sighed, and almost drove past, but that was when he noticed a neon sign in the pet store window that read: "Now Hiring." 

A bell on the door jingled once he walked inside, but it didn't seem to get anyone's attention. He wasn't all that surprised about hardly anybody being in the store, seeing as there were only three cars in the entire parking lot. 

He was about to call out again, but the sound of various animal noises distracted him.

The barks of puppies coming from the back caught Gerard's interest the most, so that's where he went, making his way through aisles of pet supplies as he walked.

It startled Gerard to see someone there, their back to him. Something was familiar about the black tank top they were wearing. 

Despite the guy's whole getup, with his punk clothing and tousled hair, he didn't appear too tough at the moment, due to the fact that he was giggling and picking up the puppies from their small pen. 

Gerard cleared his throat. "Hello?"

The other person immediately put down the puppy he was holding and turned around. Gerard looked straight into the eyes of Frank Iero.

"Uh, Devin, isn't it?"

"Gerard," Gerard said simply, then gestured to the pen of puppies with an amount of bravery he never imagined he'd possess, "So, I see you're busy acting all tough and whatnot."

Frank snorted. "I guess so. It's my job, anyways."

"You work here?" Gerard asked, his innocent demeanor returning. "That's funny... I was actually, uh, looking for a j-"

"A job?" Frank asked nonchalantly. "I mean," he looked around at the empty store, "we are pretty packed with workers, but I think we might be able to squeeze you in."

Gerard blushed at Frank's unexpected kindness and joking attitude, but decided to play along. "You think so?"

"Let's see." He turned his head and shouted, "Katt!"

Seconds later, a short, pretty, red haired girl appeared from behind one of the shelves. "What?"

Frank jabbed his thumb in Gerard's direction. "We've got someone in search of a job. A friend of mine."

Gerard immediately turned red in the face at Frank referring to him as his friend. 

Katt looked at Gerard, seeming surprised. "Seriously?"

"I guess," Frank turned back to Gerard, who nodded hastily after Frank asked: "You seriously wanna work here?"

"Could you start next Saturday?" Katt asked timidly. 

"Wait, really?" asked Gerard. "You don't need my name, a resume, a-"

Frank laughed, and managed to say, "His name's Gerard" before Katt began speaking again.

"Any friend of Frank's is a friend of mine," Katt smiled warmly. "I can tell give you all the details next week. Can you come next Saturday, at noon?"

Gerard knew that he definitely could, especially with the assistance of Lindsey's car, but he decided to play it cool. "I'm pretty sure I can . . . I'll talk to Frank at school if my plans change, is that . . .?"

Frank shrugged. "That sounds alright."

-  
As Gerard stepped out of the store, Katt quickly came behind him with a cigarette and lighter in her hand.

Before he could stop himself, he turned around to face her. "Is Frank always that nice, or is he just in a good mood?"

She lit the cigarette that was now sticking out of her mouth. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, everyone's scared of him at school. He's always getting into trouble, and someone worries about their well-being if they even look at him the wrong way."

"Ah," she said carefully. "I mean, the kid's been through a lot. It's not really my tale to tell, but he has. I'm in college, so I'm not really caught up on what he does, only when he's sent to jail."

"Should I be afraid of him?"

"Oh, honey," she laughed. "He's got a heart bigger than his jail record. And he seems to like you, anyways, so I don't really think you've got to worry."

-  
Gerard arrived home in a good mood. However, it did not live very long, because once he stepped inside, he saw Lindsey and his brother making on the couch. They didn't even seem to notice him. 

It took him a few seconds to recover from shock, but once he did, he cursed as loud as he could.

Lindsey looked up first, and the guilt in her eyes was unmistakable. 

"Get out," Gerard said to her immediately, not even looking for an explanation.

"Gerard! I-"

"Get out!" he yelled louder than he had meant to.

She scurried past him and out the door, her lips curled as if she were about to cry. Gerard slammed the door behind her.

"What the fuck?" He turned to Mikey now, who was still sitting dazedly on the couch. 

"She started it, honest!" Mikey said, beginning to sniffle. "I wouldn't do that to you, Gerard. Don't you know me?"

"You seemed to be enjoying it," Gerard said coldly. 

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean. . . if there's anything-"

Gerard simply rolled his eyes and started up the stairs to his room. "I got a job, if you were wondering," he called over his shoulder, the tone of his voice indecipherable.

"I'm sorry!" Mikey yelled up at him.

"You know, Mikey," Gerard said loudly as he proceeded to climb the stairs. "I wouldn't care if you dropped dead."  
-  
Gerard hadn't anticipated sitting alone, but upon entering the lunchroom, he realized that he was still making a point to avoid Lindsey, like he had been all weekend. So, after carefully scanning the room, he made his way to an empty table and sat down. 

Although he figured he hadn't caught anyone's attention besides maybe Lindsey's, he still felt awkward sitting alone. Despite his tragic lack of friends, he couldn't even recall a time he had sat by himself at lunch. 

He kept his eyes down on the wooden lunch table, daring himself not to make eye contact with anybody. His behavior might have slightly matched that of a school shooter's, or something of the sort, but he really couldn't bring himself to care. 

He had been happier than he realized when he was still with Lindsey. She was someone to talk to, and to confide in.

The lunchroom was now hell, and school itself was the devil, holding him there. He didn't even have Lindsey's car to take him home early anymore. 

Gerard was so lost in his own thoughts that he failed to notice someone approaching his table. So, it was somewhat understandable that he just about pissed himself when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up at the grinning face of Frank Iero. 

"Where's your girlfriend?" he asked. Gerard frowned in distaste, hardly bothering to fully process Frank's comment. 

"Well, she seems to prefer my brother."

Frank furrowed his eyebrows. "You're kidding? That's really shitty. What's her name again?"

Gerard looked reluctant. "Lindsey."

He thought for a moment. "Lindsey? Black hair and red lipstick?"

"Uh, yeah, that's the one."

"Well, I don't want to sound blunt here, because I take it you aren't the blunt type, but I fucked her last year. I won't be rude about it, but it wasn't the best experience of my life."

Gerard's eyes widened. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Are you kidding? Her and I started dating three years ago." 

"She didn't tell me that." he then noticed Gerard's newly angry expression and attempted to backtrack. "Good for you, she's terrible in bed. I'm assuming you won't be missing that."

It had taken longer than he'd have liked to admit for Gerard to process what exactly Frank had just told him, but once he did, he was almost shaking with anger. To calm himself down, he tried looking away from Frank and scanning the lunchroom instead, only to find that he had earned the attention of quite a few students. At first he was confused, but then he remembered that he was having a conversation with the infamous Frank Iero. 

Abruptly deciding that he no longer cared if he lived or died, Gerard turned back to Frank. "Well, I don't want to be rude, but that's about the least reassuring thing I've ever heard."

To Gerard's surprise, Frank only laughed. "Well, what if I told you Lindsey Ballato is one bitch that deserves to die?"

Gerard merely smiled. "Better."

-  
Frank and his friends for whatever reason decided to accompany Gerard on his walk home from school. Frank had briefly introduced them to Gerard as Pete and Jared. 

All had been well and pleasant until Pete pulled out a cigarette, causing Gerard to make an unpleasant face.

"What, you don't like cigs?" Pete asked in a gravelly voice, lighting it.

Gerard smiled weakly and shook his head. "The smell's fucking nasty."

"Ah," Pete said. "Well, to each his own, I guess."

"So, Gerard," Jared piped up from behind them. "Nice meeting you, but this is my house. See you." And with that, he turned from the sidewalk and down a narrow driveway. To Gerard's confusion, Pete followed him wordlessly. 

"Gerard," Frank said once the two were alone, not appearing to be put off by the sudden departure of his two friends. "would you happen to have any idea where Lindsey might live?"

Gerard took his time glancing around at the rather sunny day before responding. "I would. Why?"

"Well, if she's within walking distance, I'd love to have a little chat with her right about now."

Gerard shook his head and grabbed Frank's arm to pull him back. "Please don't," he said, "then she'll just be mad at me, and I like not being at fault for this."

"Well, I never figured being her former fuckbuddy would have all that many advantages, but it's all clear to me now. All I've got to do is visit her, talk a bit about our past, subtly ask about you, and teach her a lesson on how to treat a significant other. It's brilliant!"

"Well, you sure are fond of your own ideas," Gerard mumbled, but he soon filled with horror when he saw Frank's face harden at his witty comment. "But I mean, it is brilliant," he added desperately, and watched in relief as Frank smiled in response. 

trigger warning past this point there's gonna be mentions of death and blood and injury and stuff fyi fyi  
-  
Gerard jumped at the sound of his bedroom window opening. 

He kicked off the covers that were blanketing his legs, then stood up and put the flashlight and comic book that he had been holding on his nightstand. 

Gerard already had his mouth open to scream for his mom when Frank's face peeked in from the window.

"I didn't plan to arrive at such a dreadfully late hour, I swear," he began, "but I bear news that can't wait until morning."

"How'd you find my house?" was all Gerard asked, his mouth agape.

"Connections. Now if you'd let me share the news before I change my mind?" 

Gerard watched as Frank stepped into his room. "Alright. What is it? Is it something to do with Lindsey, because-"

"Your friend's dead."

"What? That's not funny, Frank. What-"

"She's dead. Dead as a doornail. I figured I'd pay her a visit earlier, but I ended up walking in on a suicide scene. Then I left. I wasn't going to tell anybody, but then I remembered you."

"You can't be serious," Gerard began, but the look in Frank's eyes was terrifyingly serious.

"I guess she'll be found by morning. Do you know why she could've done it?"

Gerard felt goosebumps cover his arms, and his stomach get sick. "How are you so calm about this? Are you telling me that she's-?"

"Now, I'm not saying this is a good thing, because she's dead, of course, but don't you remember us discussing how she deserved to die?" Frank's calmness made Gerard wonder if this was Frank's first time handling death.

Gerard opened his mouth to reply, but ended up turning around and puking on his carpet instead. "I didn't mean it!" he said after sitting down on his bed, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his ratty gray sweatshirt.

"Really? 'Cause it sort of sounded like. . ." he caught Gerard's death glare. "Nevermind, nevermind. I'm sorry, Gerard. Really, I am."

Gerard looked up at the other boy with watery eyes. "How'd she-"

"I'd rather not say." Frank told him, making sure to maintain eye contact now. 

"You can't just come here and not expect me to-"

"Fine, fine, since you've got a gun to my head here. She slit her wrists."

Gerard gasped and put a hand to his mouth. "No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

The strange feeling of satisfaction suddenly made its presence in the back of Gerard's mind, but he pushed it away immediately.

"This is my fault," Gerard said quietly.

"No it isn't. She's just pretty terrible at handling her feelings, I suppose."

Frank put a hand on Gerard's shoulder, and Gerard looked up at him. "If I had just forgiven her. . ."

"You're only saying that because she's dead," Frank told him calmly. "You seemed pretty hell bent on the grudge you had going before."

There was an odd silence between the two. "Frank," Gerard whispered, "why am I kind of relieved?"

"Because you wanted her dead."

"I didn't!"

"Alright, alright. If you don't want someone else to wind up dead, I suggest you go and talk to your brother. I'd bet you're holding some kind of grudge over him too? Also," he motioned to the vomit on the carpet, "you might want to clean that."

Gerard ran a shaking hand through his hair. "Yeah."

"I should leave now. Sorry for your loss, and all that jazz. See you later."

-  
Lindsey's funeral was just as depressing as Gerard had imagined it would be.

The whole school came, and Gerard watched student after student blatantly lie about having been her best friend, and loving her more than words could express.

Frank and Gerard sat in a pew in the back row, pretending to pray but in reality quietly mumbling to each other.

Many of Lindsey's former classmates approached Gerard throughout the service, professing just how sorry they were for his loss. 

Gerard shed a few tears, but he couldn't really say that any were genuine.

The real tears only came when Lindsey's parents spoke to him.

"Gerard!" Lindsey's mom said as she ran up to him after the service, Lindsey's father in tow. Gerard stood to greet the two respectfully.

"She loved you," Mr. Ballato said upon approaching him, his voice breaking slightly. "and I'm sure you loved her just as much."

Lindsey's mother nodded through her tears. "I'm sorry that this had to break you guys up."


End file.
